Richardson, TX Animal Ordinances: Exotic Pets (2026)

Sec. 5-12 of the City Code flatly prohibits owning, possessing, keeping or harboring a wild animal within Richardson city limits; the section carries no size or species carve-out for exotic pets kept privately in a home. The only defenses to prosecution are institutional: a governmental entity, a zoo open to the public, a research institution, an animal exhibition, rodeo, or circus in which the animal is restrained from inflicting injury and adequately cared for, or a licensed wildlife rehabilitation center. A private resident keeping a wild animal, such as a big cat, primate, venomous reptile, or similar non-domesticated species, as a pet does not fit any listed defense and is exposed to prosecution regardless of how the animal is housed.

The prohibition sits in Chapter 5, Article I, alongside the city's broader animal-control scheme (registration, vaccination, and nuisance-noise rules at Sec. 5-8 and 5-9), and is enforced by the animal services division and the director of health under the general chapter authority. The current text traces to Ord. No. 3170-A, adopted April 13, 1998, and was renumbered and reaffirmed by Ord. No. 4507, § 1, adopted August 12, 2024, as part of a broader rewrite of Chapter 5's animal provisions that also restructured neighboring sections on kennels, cruelty, and impoundment.